Last Saturday was a corgi column-less Saturday (and I hung my head in appropriate shame at the latest staff meeting, believe me). However, we hadn't gotten an air conditioner in our new apartment yet and it 94 degrees outside and our furry little beans were overheating -- so we drove upstate to the family cabin where there is no wifi or phone line and where it is always about 20 degrees cooler.

Forgive me my absence. I have photos of Spondee playing in a waterfall.

The bean loves hiking.

He may seem fat and *insert-whatever-the-opposite-of-athletic-is* (is it lethargic? sluggish, maybe?), but he can do a 7-mile hike like you would not believe, complete with circling around his dad and me while we take water breaks and running up and down the trail when we lag behind.

If it's not too busy, we'll let him hike off-leash, but I'm rethinking this policy post-Spondee knocking down the water spirit Blair Witch stone totems and cursing us all to death.

This weekend the trail was chock a block with teenager hikers in bathing suits and incredibly rude, shirtless trail runners. (They said terrible things to people who were enjoying the trails at a leisurely pace with all their clothes on. If any of you are reading this -- I hope you fall down a mountain.)

Back to the bean's great love of the great outdoors: He is the smiliest little thing I've ever seen when we're out in the woods.

He is never more happy than when he's covered in mud and being lifted up into the backseat of the car for a long ride home.

We're really lucky to live near enough state parks and hiking trails to keep him tired out and happy on the weekends.

During the week, however, it's a different story. We cannot take Spondee on romps through idyllic fields or up and down verdant NY mountains. He gets nice long walks in the morning and evening, but I can tell when he's got a lot of pent up energy, which brings me to this week's plea for help: